Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs

I had a friend visiting from England this week and while he has been over on this side of the pond on several occasions he admitted that he had never tried a hot dog. This was a culinary omission that I felt needed immediate rectification. But were to go? I was not going to feed him a dirty water dog so that left but a few alternatives. Katz Deli and Gray's Papaya were the logical choices given their hot dog pedigree and proximity to Beef Aficionado world headquarters in Gramercy Park but I thought why not travel out to Coney Island and sample the prototypical New York hot dog at Nathans Famous?

When it turned out my mate is a huge fan of Walter Hill's seminal 1979 film The Warriors which climaxes on the Coney Island beach, well that sealed the deal. I cannot think of a more appropriate starting point for an exploration of the New York hot dog than Nathan's.

Nathan's is open year round but the rest of Coney Island waits until the Memorial Day weekend as the official start to the summer season.

Despite only firing on a couple of cylinders, a fraction of the multiple registers and grill tops were open when I visited, Nathan's still moves a prodigious number of hot dogs during the off season. The grill was restocked on a couple of occasions in the short time it took me to devour a couple of dogs and some fries. The amount of pups they go through during the summer peak must be staggeringly high.

Nathan's smokes their 100% beef hot dogs and then re-heats them on griddle tops. It is an impressive feat to witness the grill worker move and flip an entire row of hot dogs with long custom made tongs. The sausages are moved from left to right on the griddle top. When they have reached the end of the line a bun is placed on top of it and left to heat for a minute or two. One of the advantages of going during the off season is that the buns get a little toastier than during the height of the summer when there is simply no time to cook them much.

Some people find it odd but I am happy to eat my hot dogs completely naked, at least when it is as succulent as Nathan's juicy frankfurters.

Of course mustard and sour kraut make a delicious compliment to the smoky frank. Biting in to a Nathans frank is a wonderful experience. The soft compliance of the bun soon gives way to a crackling snap as you bite through the taught skin, a burst of juice and flavor follow. The beef has a a strong garlicky flavor and a robust and hearty texture. The dogs also tasted smokier than I remember them. This is a great hot dog.

While Nathan's offer burgers and chicken and even seafood I don't hold much other than the hot dogs in very high regard but the fries are worth mentioning. They are large, chunky crinkle cut and extremely crispy potatoes, similar in fact to good old English chips.

I may prefer certain other dogs, such as Rutt's Hut in New Jersey and Walter's in Mamaroneck but it is hard to argue that the frank at Nathan's is not the quintessential American hot dog. Nathan's is now a national chain with numerous outposts. I have not eaten at any of them in recent memory and while I am sure that they are a reasonably close facsimile of the original I am also sure that they won't taste quite as good, lacking the tinge of nostalgia and authenticity that the original imbues. My friend by the way absolutely loved the dogs. I am taking him to Peter Luger's next. I envy him, experiencing Nathan's and Luger's for the first time in the same week might just be a religious experience.

A great post! I want a hot dog--right now. I haven't been to Nathan's, but whenever I'm in New York, I have to get to Gray's Papaya. I've also admired the nice snap of the Great Dane from F&B. But my favorite way to have hot dogs is in the form of chili dogs.

Not sure what all THAT had to do with Nathan's.... He isn't blogging about steak or Montana here. Can you say "rabbit trail?"

On topic: Everyone who loves hotdogs should get to Nathan's @ Coney Island at least once in their life. I know they sell their dogs in stores, but it's just not the same. The atmosphere helps make the hot dog so memorable.

Shame that they are ruining Coney Island, though.

On some nice sunny day, take the Q or B train to Brighton Beach and then walk down the boardwalk to Coney Island. You'll be hungry enough for a few Nathan's Famous by then. Relax for a while and then set back down the boardwalk to Brighton Beach and grab some pretty decent Russian food there before you head home.

YES, "Betty" and if you contact Mrs. Jaden Hair, as I have, the following reply from the Steamy Kitchen star was as follows:----------------------------------Charles and Louise,

Louise, you are simply an attention hungry woman who I think actually enjoys the taunting of DocChuck. If you think for one moment that I like or respect one ounce of you, please take a moment to whack yourself in the head with a sledge hammer dipped in concrete. Do you think there might be a reason that I have not responded to any of your emails? Do you think I asked for your phone number because I might just call you and chat? Seriously? I have your phone number in the event I need to hand it over to the police because you live close to me.

In case you are curious, to the 2 bloggers who have contact(ed) me, I’ve said that yes, DocChuck is a racist ass, but more importantly, Chiffonade is the one who is egging DocChuck on because she desperately needs him to.

Louise, If you don’t like DocChuck, change your fucking nickname to something else and just ignore him. How many times have I told you to just leave DC alone – you don’t feed the beast. Louise, I don’t know what kind of daddy issues you have, but be clear on this - don’t you dare ever mention my name again to try to save you from other bloggers. Because I’m not.

-Jaden----------------------------------

So, "Betty", exactly what is it that you and your MANY alter-egos, such as "barbara krieg" about.

What I truly encourage is that this blog operator and any of his readers IMMEDIATELY contact "Mrs. Jaden Hair" - and once and for all, put to rest your BULLSHIT, Louise ("chiff0nade").

DocChuck's profile and legitimate email is readily available to THIS blog operator and to all other blog operators.

I try to stay out of my mother's ("chiffonade", "barbara krieg", "betty" and scores of other screen names) business , but when the police come knocking on my boyfriend's door asking for information about her activities, I get a little upset.

Louise (chiffOnade) has harassed (according to the police) Sandra Lee, DocChuck, Steamy Kitchen, and many other people.

If these people have had to call the police, I will once again resume my estrangement from Louise (chiffOnade), as I have for the past three years.